Study: The Internet's spam problem is getting worse

A study finds that only one out of every 20 e-mails is from a legitimate source, and business professionals now rate it the top form of junk advertising.

Barracuda Networks found that nearly 95 percent of all e-mail sent today is spam. This is up from just five percent of all e-mail in 2001, and 85 to 90 percent of e-mail in 2006.

The company's study found that 65 percent of respondents receive 10 or fewer spams per day, and half receive five or fewer. A little more than one in ten respondents reported receiving as many as 50 or more unsolicited messages daily.

In 2007, spammers seemed to favor the use of attachments, a change from last year where inline image and botnet spam seemed to be popular. Additionally, techniques used by spammers have become more complex, which make them harder to stop and harder to track.

For now at least, the relentless battle against what has probably become one of the biggest scourges of the Internet seems to a losing one. Security vendors are now being forced to watch new spam mails continuously for potential malware and security concerns.

This increased vigilance does have a positive. "[Continous monitoring and defense] can block a new spam attack within minutes of its start, virtually at zero hour," Barracuda president and CEO Dean Drako said.

Among business professionals, over half -- 57 percent -- consider spam e-mail as the worst form of junk advertising. This easily eclipsed junk postal mail at 31 percent, and telemarketing at 12 percent.